Tales From the Other Side of the Mirror
by Empress of the Azure Skies
Summary: Various oneshots, some crossover and some not, that have been bugging me, but that I don't want to write full stories for. All of these plot bunnies are up for adoption.
1. Abomination

A/N: So, this is basically a place for me to put one shots from the various plot bunnies that are bugging me. I'm hoping that someone reading this will get inspired and rewrite and/or continue one of them, so feel free to write a PM or a review if you want to do it.

**Abomination**

_Long ago, the continent was ruled by a great civilization. They possessed a wondrous power, far different and, some say, far greater than ninjutsu. It is said that this power could turn lead into gold and even grant eternal life. But the people grew arrogant with their power and began using it for twisted means. In time, the civilization's leaders sought to subjugate the rest of the world._

_The neighboring nations watched anxiously and attempted to appease this mighty giant. It was to no avail. However, before their conquest could begin, the nine bijuu descended upon them. In a single night, they were wiped from the world along with the secrets of their great power. Time passed and the great civilization faded into the stuff of myth and legend._

_Many sought to reclaim their power and spent lifetimes searching for any clue of it. Then came the Rikudo Sennin, legendary possessor of the Rinnegan and the creator of ninjutsu. With the invention of this new power, the legendary civilization's power was forgotten by most. Some still searched for it in a vain effort to prove it was superior to ninjutsu, but to no avail._

_Even now shinobi villages compete to unearth these ruins and discover their secrets. Should one successfully do so, they would no doubt have a great advantage over all others. Yet one could only hope they would learn from the mistakes of the past._

--

Minato pushed back a yawn as he stepped into office he had secured for Ito. Ito Hideki was the Fire Country's most renowned archaeologist whom Minato had employed to examine some artifacts recently unearthed from a site near Konoha. Of particular interest to the Yondaime Hokage were a series of books written in a strange script with drawings that resembled seals, but where unlike any seals he had ever seen. Ito had set to work attempting to translate these texts almost immediately.

Currently, the unassuming archaeologist was wrapped up an particular text, taking many notes while being extremely careful not to damage the book.

"How goes the research?" Minato asked.

Ito jumped slightly, then smiled apologetically at Minato.

"You startled me, Hokage-sama," he said, before his eyes lit up, "It's the most astounding thing I've ever seen! These texts detail the use of the ancient power, which they refer to as 'alchemy.' This is quite possibly the greatest discovery in the history of archaeology! You won't believe many of the things I've discovered! Once I finish my translations I simply must see the place where these were found!"

"What specifically have you found out?"

"Well, a lot of it details alchemic theory and these seals which the books refer to as arrays. I've translated that as best I can, but a lot of it doesn't make much sense to me. There are also many lists of compounds along with their compositions and other details. However, the book I just finished working on is proving to be the most interesting. It is entitled "Forbidden Alchemy" and consists mostly of broad generalities about the topics which wouldn't be useful for actually trying to perform them. That is, unless someone hadn't inserted several pages of personal notes into the book, detailing each in great detail."

This piqued Minato's interest greatly. Had he finally found what he was looking for? Was there a way to do that one thing that no ninjutsu ever truly could?

"Go on," Minato said.

"Well, the first parts detail things such as turning lead and other metals into gold, the creation of something called a 'chimera' by combining animals and, if desired, humans, and bringing the dead back to life. The final part goes on to describe the creation of the 'Philosopher's Stone,' apparently the ultimate goal of alchemy. The notes go on to give great detail on each, so whoever wrote them was very knowledgeable."

Minato's heart skipped a beat. It could be done. He could bring Naruto back to life. The poor infant taken by death before he was even a few hours old would be back in his father's arms. Then he, Kushina, and Naruto could be a family again.

"But that isn't the most interesting thing," Ito said, drawing Minato's attention back, "The last set of notes speak of the creation of the bijuu."

Minato gave the man a stunned look.

"They created the bijuu?" he asked.

"If these notes are correct, yes," Ito replied gravely, "You see, the Philosopher's Stone was an amplifier that allowed users of alchemy to do the impossible, to break even the established laws of alchemy. But there is a price, the Philosopher's Stone is made from human souls and it requires thousands. The first recorded attempt used a group of people from what is now the Wind Country. A tribe of nomads was sacrificed to create a Philosopher's Stone, but before it could be used, it shattered into sand then reformed into a beast made of sand."

"Shukaku," Minato said.

Ito nodded in response before continuing, "They managed to bind it and attempted to learn from their mistakes. They tried eight more times, each time using more and more people from disenfranchised ethnic groups. Each attempt created a more powerful bijuu, all the way up to the Kyuubi no Yoko itself. They bound them each time, but couldn't bring themselves to destroy them. The author of the notes even expresses concern that the bindings wouldn't hold, which was apparently the case."

"I see," Minato said, "This is all very interesting."

The Yondaime made an almost imperceptible movement and in an instant three ANBU were in the room. Two of them already had Ito in their grip.

"What's going on here?!" Ito demanded.

"Ito Hideki, I am placing you in protective custody to prevent these secrets from falling into enemy hands," Minato replied.

With that, the ANBU holding the archaeologist disappeared.

"All of these materials are officially S-ranked secrets. I want them moved to a secure location where only I have clearance," Minato said to the remaining ANBU.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," the ANBU replied.

--

The timing was so great Minato could laugh. The Kyuubi had descended upon Konoha on the very day when Naruto was supposed to have been born. It had to be destiny at work to everything had worked so perfectly. Minato had had Naruto's remains secretly unearthed and had spent the previous month studying alchemy during any free time he had. All he needed was a power source and is if a divine gift, the wonderful fox had come to him of its own accord.

Even before he reached the fox's location, he ran through the hand seals for an earth moving jutsu. If anything good had come from the war with Iwa, this jutsu was it. Upon reaching an area far enough from the Kyuubi to give him some breathing room but close enough that his plan would work, Minato released the jutsu. Instantly the earth caved in around the beast, forming an array.

Wasting no time, Minato set the bag containing his son's corpse just inside the array. The Yondaime clapped his hands and slammed them onto the ground. The array lit up instantly, first deep blue and then dark red. The Kyuubi let out an unearthly howl as the light in the array began to swirl. As the fox struggled, its body began to dissolve, starting from the feet and moving up to the head and tails. With one final deafening growl, the most powerful of the bijuu vanished completely into the intense red light.

Instantly Minato found himself in a vast endless expanse of nothing. Before him was an immense gate decorated with statues of damned souls. The gate swung wide open to reveal inky blackness from which small hands emerged. They pulled him into the gate and reached inside of him pulling out his organs. The pain was unimaginable, but was somewhat blunted by the knowledge being forced into his brain.

He found himself back in the world after what felt like forever. He could feel his life slipping away as his body shut down. With the last remnants of his strength he forced his head up to look at the spot where he had put Naruto. Standing there was a boy who looked to be about twelve with spiky blonde hair, violet eyes with slit-like pupils, and a tattoo of a serpent devouring its own tail where his navel should have been.

"Naruto…" Minato whispered as the world faded to black.

It wasn't long before several ANBU showed up and retrieved the boy and Minato's body.

--

Sarutobi took a long drag from his pipe as he listened to the reports from the various ANBU before him. If only he had realized how distressed his successor had been over his son's death, this all could have been prevented. But just as he had failed Orochimaru, he had failed Minato. But to think he would try to use the power of the lost civilization.

Then there was the boy. Sarutobi had no idea what to make of him. His chakra seemed so off, so wrong. It was practically inhuman. However, the boy had never offered to do anything more than stare off into space.

"You're all dismissed, but leave him," he said.

The gathered ANBU nodded and then left. Sarutobi let out a long sigh. He was too old to be Hokage and was in no mood to deal with the Council at the moment. Still the boy's ultimate fate needed to be decided and he could only delay the inevitable. A meeting of the elders and the clan heads would be necessary, even if he intended it as a mere formality.

--

"That abomination must be destroyed!" Fugaku declared, "It's a danger to the entire village!"

"I am inclined to disagree," Danzou replied, "Whatever it is, it may prove to be a valuable asset. A weapon created by the lost power may very well prove to be the solution to ending our stalemate with Kumo."

"How do we know it can be used as a weapon? Could we control it if it was?" Koharu interjected, "We must proceed with caution."

Sarutobi took in the discussion silently, waiting for Kushina to arrive. This would ultimately have to be her decision. The boy still seemed blissfully unaware of his surroundings as he sat at the aged Hokage's side.

"I have examined the boy with my Byakugan," Hiashi said, "His chakra network is odd, but I have faced several very human opponents with equally as odd chakra networks. I see no reason why we should assume he is either a monster or a weapon."

Fugaku seemed ready to object when the doors of the room swung wide open. Escorted by two ANBU was Uzumaki Kushina, her eyes red from crying, but her face resolute. It was at this moment the boy showed some signs of thought. His face brightened noticeably and he stood up. He rushed toward his 'mother' and the ANBU tensed and prepared to defend her. She simply waved them off and allowed the boy to embrace her.

"Mama" he said.

Kushina's expression was fairly neutral as she regarded her 'son.'

"Naruto?" she said.

He let go of her and looked up at her. A wide smile was plastered on his face as he nodded. In a flash Kushina slashed a kunai across his throat. However, rather than blood spilling out and Naruto collapsing, the wound simply glowed and was gone almost as soon the kunai was put away. Apparently unaware that his mother had just tried to kill him, Naruto continued smiling up at her.

Everyone else in the room, for their part, was too dumbfounded at what had just happened to really react. Danzou recovered the quickest and quickly tried to lay his claim on the boy.

"See, that proves it! We must train him as a weapon. I will even volunteer to personally to train him," the old war hawk said.

"Don't bother," Kushina replied blandly, "He's my responsibility. I will train him."

Without another word she took Naruto's hand and led him out of the room. Sarutobi could only watch sadly and wonder what the future might hold for those two.

--


	2. Las Bestias

A/N: For the purposes of this particular fic, the Sanbi jinchuriki is still alive at the time Naruto was six (and for all we know he might have been) and the Rokubi jinchuriki is from the Hidden Hot Springs Village, which seems likely judging by his attire.

Las Bestias

**--**

Hikari yawned and stretched as she walked the darkened streets of Konoha. Without a gigai there really wasn't much for the young redheaded shinigami to do. Hollows rarely attacked ninja villages and ninjas rarely become hollows (or shinigami for that matter). Someone had explained to her that it had something to do with them mixing physical energy with their reiatsu to make chakra, but she hadn't really listened too closely to the specifics.

"Someone please help me!" a child's voice came from a nearby alley.

There was a loud smacking sound and a harsh whisper that sounded like it ended in demon. Not thinking Hikari rushed to the source of the sounds. A masked man, which they called ANBU if she wasn't mistaken, held a blond child up against a wall with a knife to his throat. Hikari reached for her zanpakuto, only to stop when she remembered it wasn't her place to interfere with the living. All she could do was hope someone would show up to save the poor child or she would have to be ready to send him to the Soul Society.

"It took every second of these last six years to join the ANBU and become your guard, but it was worth it" the ANBU said, "For the sake of my mother, my father, my big sister, and everyone else you killed, I'm going to send you back to Hell."

"I didn't kill anyone!" the young boy said through his frightened sobs, "P-Please l-l-let me g-go! I'll b-be good f-from n-n-now on."

"Shut up and die demon!"

With that he sliced open the boy's throat and let the body fall to the ground. Without sparing him another glance, the ANBU left before he could be found. Hikari wanted to look away so badly, but she still watched as the boy's soul emerged from the body, his chain of fate still attached to the body. This was her self-punishment for not doing anything, even if it was forbidden.

"**I won't die like this!**" a deep voice roared, "**I am the Kyuubi no Yoko and I will not be felled by a mere human!**"

The air instantly became so thick with reiatsu and bloodlust that Hikari could barely stand. The boy, who until this point had just looked very disoriented, began screaming as a red aura instantly dissolved the chain of fate. The red aura spread out from the hole in his chest to cover his entire body. Hikari could only watch in horror as a fox mask formed over his face and his body became more bestial, with sharp claws, red fur all over his body, and a nine long tails.

As the red aura subsided, the reiatsu only seemed to grow more intense. Hikari felt as though she would be crushed under the weight of it if she didn't get away, but she could no more do that now than she could stop the sun from rising. When the last traces of red disappeared, horror dawned on Hikari as she realized what she was looking at.

Vasto Lorde.

She had read about the different varieties of Menos back at the academy, but she never thought she would ever see the most powerful type of hollow. At this moment it finally sunk in that she was going to die and no one short of her Captain could save her now.

Then something curious happened. The Vasto Lorde reached for its mask and began to pull it off. The mask shattered, leaving only whisker marked fragments on the cheeks. At once the fur and tails disappeared, leaving the boy looking very much like he originally did, but his eyes and hair now red, his pupils slit-like, and now clothed in a white outfit that looked much like an inversion of a shinigami's uniform. He also had a long zanpakuto with a red grip and fox-head shaped guard sheathed on his back, much like Captain Hitsugaya.

Then he looked at Hikari. She tried to scream as he slowly approached her, but she couldn't even breathe anymore and there was no one within earshot who could have done anything anyway.

--

No one in world of the living would ever know for certain what caused the destruction of the Leaf, Sand, Cloud, Mist, Rock, Waterfall, and Hot Springs villages. The only consensus that could be reached was that it must have had something to do with their jinchuriki, the only common thread of all seven. Whether the bijuu themselves had done it, the destruction was divine punishment for the creation of the jinchuriki or there was some other explanation would be debated for many years.

--

Six figures stood in front of the fortress Las Noches, moonlight shining over them. Vorágine Espiral, once known as Uzumaki Naruto, and the five subordinates still alive after their massacre of the Vasto Lorde colony in the depths of Hueco Mundo stared greedily at the stronghold.

"Hold nothing back," ordered the red-haired boy, "defeat them and make me lord of Hueco Mundo!"

The first to draw his zanpakuto, a kodachi with a golden blade and a light brown guard with rings like a shakujo, was a boy who appeared to be six years old. His hair was the color of sand and his eyes had black sclera, yellow irises, and diamond shaped pupils. The remains of his hollow mask were dark circles around his eyes.

"Call up a sandstorm and crush all opponents, Shukaku de la una Cola!"

Next a woman who appeared to be in her early twenties drew her zankuto, a katana with a black cat-head shaped guard and a grip that was black with strips of blue cloth. Her hair and eyes were dark blue and her pupils were slits like her masters'. The remains of her hollow mask created cat ears on her forehead.

"Burn away the body and soul, Gato de las Dos Colas!"

The third was an androgynous teenage boy with an average-sized zanpakuto that had a turtle shell-like guard. His hair was aquamarine colored and his eyes were light purple. The remains of his hollow mask formed a jagged extra jaw over his lower jaw.

"Drag your prey to the depths and devour it, Tortuga de las Tres Colas!"

The fourth was a man in his forties with red hair and a thick beard. His zanpakuto was a straight sword with a guard and grip that looked like they were made of volcanic rock. The remains of his hollow mask formed a bony strip across his nose.

"Erupt and drown the landscape in lava, Verraco de las Cuatro Colas!"

The fifth was a black man in his late twenties with green hair and a green beard wearing sunglasses despite the perpetual night of Hueco Mundo. His zanpakuto had a spike-like blade and no guard. The remains of his hollow mask gave him a single ox horn.

"Annihilate all who stand in your path, Buey de las Ocho Colas!"

Finally their leader drew his zanpakuto.

"Swing your mighty tails to crumble mountains and raise tsunamis, Zorro de las Nueve Colas!"

--

Spanish Translations (let me know if they're wrong):

[Animal] de la(s) [number] colas: [Animal] of the [number] tails

Gato: cat

Tortuga: turtle

Verraco: boar (speculation taken from a forum post, but it sounded good to me)

Buey: ox

Zorro: fox

Japanese Translations:

Sanbi: Three tails

Rokubi: Six tails

Kodachi: short sword

Shakujo: ringed Buddhist staff

Zanpakuto: soul cutter


	3. Kitsune Tsuki

A/N: This was born from an insane theory I came up with that Kushina was the Kyuubi. I even had plenty of evidence to support it, but I'll spare you the details so you can get to reading. It's pretty much AU considering bijuu are supposed be mindless when not sealed, but that should be obvious. Also, a cookie to anyone who catches my little joke in this chapter (not a particularly funny joke but…)

--

There was fire and destructions everywhere. Corpses littered the landscape and the groans of the dying filled the air. Tears flowed freely from Kushina's eyes as she watched the loss of everything and everyone she had ever known. The Kyuubi was highly visible against the night sky, as were the Whirlpool jounin trying in vain to fight it. It just batted them away like insects.

"WHY?!!" Kushina screamed, "Why would you bring such suffering upon us?!"

She wasn't sure if she screaming at the fox, the gods, or anything at all.

"**Suffering? You pathetic creatures know nothing of true suffering! The kind of pain and sorrow that consumes you so utterly that nothing else is left!" **a voice roared.

With a start Kushina realized that the Kyuubi had said that. She blinked and the creature disappeared from the skyline. Now a woman stood in front of her that could have passed for her reflection.

"What is your name?" the doppelganger asked, "Who is it that dares to speak of suffering to the Kyuubi no Youko?"

"Uzumaki Kushina," the kunoichi replied a bit dazed.

"Then Uzumaki Kushina, I shall reward your courage with a tale of true suffering."

Kushina wasn't sure why she was listening to this beast and not trying to stick a kunai in its heart, other than its strangely enchanting voice.

"There was once a beautiful city, known far and wide for its beauty and wealth. It was called the City of Foxes in honor of the creatures that freely roamed its streets. You see, they were the favorite creatures of the city's goddess. The goddess was loved and worshiped by her people and she returned their love and showered them with blessings. Then disciples of the Rikudou Sennin came to the city. They pillaged, they destroyed, they raped, and they killed every living thing they found. Everything they did to her worshipers, the goddess felt. Then they came to her temple and killed her high priest right in front of her. She went mad with rage and grief and became a demon, the Kyuubi no Youko. From that day on she has brought destruction wherever she has gone."

"What gives you the right?!" Kushina exploded, "Just because some people hurt you a long time ago doesn't mean you can just cause wanton destruction!"

The Kyuubi disappeared and Kushina felt a sharp pain in her abdomen. A bloody arm was protruding from her stomach. The world reeled and she died. The Kyuubi removed her arm and let the corpse fall to the ground.

"Insolent wench," the fox said indignantly.

--

No one really cared about the destruction of the Hidden Whirlpool Village which had been too small and poor for anyone to bother forming an alliance with it. The Tsuchikage and Raikage did express some regret that they had missed out on the opportunity to create another jinchuriki, though.

--

Kyuubi was bored. All of the small settlements she had been destroying were beginning to run together. She didn't dare go after a ninja village in case they were to trap her like her idiot fellow tailed beasts. She knew no one in Whirlpool would be strong enough to do it and she suspected that she would be safe attacking the Hidden Hot Springs Village or the Hidden Moon Village, but there were many foxes in that area and she didn't want to risk hurting them.

So now she mostly wandered the countryside in human form, putting ninja who had been injured out of their misery and playing immature pranks on random strangers. Foxes were tricksters after all.

She continued doing this until one day whilst trying to find a human to seduce and kill, she came across Namikaze Minato . Kyuubi inherently hated shinobi, but this man was the spitting image of her high priest Arashi. Had reincarnation reunited them?

She spent the next few weeks observing him from a distance. His mannerisms reminded her painfully of her long dead follower. So she continued following him and observing until one day…

"If you're here to kill me could you please just come out and try it already?" he asked irritably.

She descended from the treetops, her pride a bit bruised.

"I'm not here to kill you," she replied.

"Then what do you want?"

"You remind me of a friend who died."

"Oh, I'm sorry for your loss."

She waved her hand dismissively.

"It was a long time ago."

"Do you mind if I ask who you are? I have a lot of enemies."

"Uzumaki Kushina, the only surviving ninja of the Hidden Whirlpool Village."

--

Kushina, as now even she thought of herself, couldn't believe the turn her life had taken. That didn't mean such wasn't happy with it, of course. All that hate, rage and pain had become like a distant nightmare.

Now the only thing that concerned her was seeing her newborn son. Minato was letting her rest (little did he realize that she didn't need it) while he showed off little Naruto.

"How the mighty have fallen," a voice said from the shadows.

Suddenly before her was a masked figure in a black cloak. His mask exposed only a single eye, but the Sharingan was clearly visible. The chakra inside of him was even more sinister than hers in her true form.

"Madara," she growled, "get out here before I kill you!"

"You're going to doing some killing all right, but it won't be me. Now, why don't we show this village your true colors?"

His eye shifted into that horribly familiar Eternal Mangekyo and madness once again consumed her.

--


	4. Debt

A/N: Naruto is about ten in this ficlet. I only mention that because I couldn't find a good way to work it into the story itself.

--

Naruto noted with some irritation the sound of a dog barking nearby. He had come out into the woods to enjoy a peaceful afternoon away from the glares and hateful whispers. He was just beginning to doze off in the shade of a large tree, but now some mutt were ruining it.

With a sigh, he stood up and brushed himself off. He followed the sound deeper into the forest where less and less sunlight could reach the ground. He was just about to give up when spotted the dog. It was a medium-sized brown mutt and it seemed to be barking at a tree for no reason.

"Stupid dog! Shut up!" he yelled.

The dog stopped for a second, looked at Naruto, and then went back to barking at the tree. Frustrated, Naruto looked around for a rock. He spotted a nice sized one, picked it up, and threw it at the dog.

The dog let out a yelp and ran away. Curious as to what all the fuss was about, Naruto went to see what all the fuss had been about. In a hollowed out part of the tree, he found a small fox curled into a ball and shaking.

"It's okay," Naruto said, "that dumb mutt isn't gonna hurt you."

The fox's head shot up to assess the new arrival. Naruto could have sworn that the little creature looked confused, but he simply wrote it off as his imagination. The fox began making a series of yips and barks and then acted as if it was waiting for Naruto to respond. At first he found this odd, but then remembered that Kiba and Akamaru seemed to be able to talk to each other.

"Umm…I can't understand you, but can you understand me?" Naruto asked.

The fox looked as if it was trying to remember something but finally began nodding vigorously.

"Really?! That's so cool!"

The fox began to jerk its head to the side.

"Huh? What is it?"

Naruto looked in that direction, but didn't see anything.

"What're you…oh, you want me to move?"

The fox nodded.

Naruto moved and the fox jumped out of the hollow. It made a head motion toward the deeper part of the forest.

"You want me to follow you?"

The fox gave him a nod in response.

Naruto couldn't help but feel apprehensive about it. Kiba had told him stories about how foxes were tricksters who would possess people or turn into women and seduce men (he asked Kiba what 'seduce' meant, but even he didn't know, just that it was something bad). They even kidnapped people sometimes and took them far away or just never returned them.

On the other hand, he thought being taken away might not be so bad. Sure the old man was nice and Iruka-sensei took him out for ramen sometimes, but almost everyone else was really mean. Kiba did say that a fox will always pay back a favor, so maybe this little guy was just trying to thank him.

"Okay," Naruto finally said.

The fox yipped happily and started walking off. Naruto followed, unconsciously making sure that he was always behind the fox, not beside it. Curiously, he noted that their path was always straight and clear of everything but a few leaves and the occasional small rock. The farther they walked, the less aware Naruto became of the passage of time. They could have been walking for minutes, hours, or years, but his perception was so messed up that he really didn't know.

Regardless, they eventually arrived in a huge open field. Throughout the field were red flowers of many varieties. In the center of it was a huge temple, more ornately decorated than any building Naruto had ever seen in his life. At its entrance were two fox statues, one on the right with a jewel in its mouth and one on the left with a key. Behind the temple was an enormous rice field.

As Naruto took in this beautiful sight, he began to feel like he shouldn't be there. It was a sacred place where even the air was astoundingly free from any ort of taint. Someone like him couldn't possibly belong there.

He turned to go back into the woods, only to find that the woods were gone. The only thing behind him was more open field which ended in far off mountains.

The fox barked at him, drawing Naruto's attention.

"I guess it's too late to go back, huh?"

The fox didn't answer the question, it just began running toward the temple. Naruto sprinted after it, only to find that he couldn't keep up, which made Naruto wonder how the dog managed to trap it in the first place.

As they reached the first torii in front of the temple, however, the fox slowed to a respectful walk. Not wanted to offend whatever deity was worshipped there, Naruto did the same. They eventually reached the entrance of the temple where a woman was standing. Naruto thought it was strange he hadn't noticed her before, but everything in this trip had been far from normal.

The woman was tall and beautiful with long white hair and light blue eyes. She wore a red kimono decorated with floral patterns.

The fox ran up to her and began yipping and barking excitedly. The woman listened calmly until it was finished, at which point she looked at Naruto.

"She says that you saved her from a dog," she said.

"Um…yeah," Naruto managed to respond, "You can understand her?"

"Yes," she said, "Though my appearance suggests otherwise, I am like her."

"You're a fox?!"

The woman chuckled a little.

"Yes, young one, I am a fox. See?"

A puff of smoke appeared around her, like someone using henge, and she was now a white fox with nine tails that was easily large enough for two adults to ride. After watching Naruto's amazement for a minute, she reverted back to her human form.

"Wow! So the stories about foxes are true?"

"Yes, we and other yokai do exist, though our numbers are much less than before the Rikudo Sennin."

"Who's that?"

"The Rikudo Sennin was the first ninja. He possessed a powerful doujutsu known as the Rinnegan which allowed him to create the first ninjutsu modeled after our yojutsu. He discovered that you humans have an energy known as chakra within you, which is similar to our yoki, and he learned to manipulate it by observing us."

"Uh, I didn't understand most of that," Naruto admitted, scratching his head.

"Never mind. Such things are not important. For now we must settle the debt owed to you."

"What debt?"

"You saved one of ours; therefore we owe you a great debt. We always pay back what we owe. That is our way."

Naruto shook his head.

"You don't have to give me anything."

A slight smile crept onto the fox woman's face

"Not many would be so willing to pass up a favor from us. However, you have to understand that we _must _give you full payment for what you have done, just as we _must _punish those who slight us. Everything one sends out into the universe returns to them increased by the nature of the action. Saving and taking a life are the highest of each extreme."

Naruto cocked his head.

"Well, if you have to give me something, what would it be?"

"You may remain here with us for the rest of your life. The rest of our family will welcome you and you will become an honorary fox. Time will slow down for you so that in a hundred years you will age only a year. You will never want for good food or clean water or companionship or love. And, as you remain here, breathing the air, drinking the water, and eating the food, that which is contained within you will wither away until it is as if he was never there…"

"Wait! What's inside of me?!"

A dark look passed over her face and Naruto feared that he may have offended her.

"The Great Enemy, the Despicable One, Murderer of Kits, the Living Blasphemy," her voice became more harsh with each name, "We have many names for him, some of which I could not even express in your language. You humans know him as the Kyuubi no Youko. He was defeated many years ago and sealed away within an infant, you."

Naruto felt like he had been punched in the stomach. It all made perfect sense. They hated him because he had the Kyuubi inside of him. Kids wouldn't play with him because they were scared of him. Sadness, anger, and self-loathing rose up and tears stung at his eyes.

He didn't even notice that the fox woman had approached him until she had wrapped him up in a tight embrace. The scent of plum blossoms filled his nostrils and this combined with her motherly affection soothed him. Meanwhile, the young fox had sat down on his feet and was making sounds that were probably meant to ask him if he was okay.

"I am truly sorry for what you have gone through," she whispered, "One so young as you should never have to bear such a burden. Please forgive me for telling you so tactlessly. I assumed that you knew."

Naruto, as he had done more times in his life than he cared to remember, wiped the tears out of his eyes. He managed to make a half-hearted smile.

"It's okay," he said, "I had to find out eventually."

She pulled away and Naruto felt a bit disappointed that her warmth and nice smell were no longer around him. He wanted to tell her that truthfully he was not okay, if for no other reason than to receive more affection, but he held back. The young fox, however, remained at his feet until he picked her up and began stroking her fur. She seemed to enjoy it and it made Naruto feel somewhat better.

"There is something else we can give you. You may return to the human world and she will go with you in human form. She will grow up with you and be your constant friend and companion. Later, if you so choose, she will become your wife and lover. As long as she remains with you, you will enjoy a long, healthy life full of good fortune. It is up to you make the decision."

Naruto's eyes lingered on the fox woman for a moment longer, moved to the young fox in his arms, scanned the immense land of the foxes, and finally he turned around to look from where he had come. He was mildly surprised to see that the forest was back. He took a deep breath and turned around to give his answer.

--


End file.
